Titles can be difficult sometimes; I find they usually come straight away with the idea and it fits perfectly, but occasionally I've come up with something as a placeholder and end up changing it every few weeks, never happy.
The Sitcom Mission 2011 Page 49
Once again, I'm not criticising, just telling you what happens when you get over 1200 entries.
The Office, Friends, My Family, Ellen, Rhoda, The Mary Tyler Moore Show etc
Quote: Declan @ March 11 2011, 10:25 PM GMTOnce again, I'm not criticising, just telling you what happens when you get over 1200 entries.
The Office, Friends, My Family, Ellen, Rhoda, The Mary Tyler Moore Show etc
Wow it'd take some confidence (but be quite brilliant) for someone to take the 'first name' approach! :-)
Arrested Development is a great title, which fits the show perfectly. It's also pretty clever, as far as titles go, as it refers not only to the characters themselves, but the project the company was working on before the Father was put away.
Psychoville is a great show, but I've never been keen on that title.
Quote: Griff @ March 11 2011, 11:55 PM GMTWorld Of Pub
It's a real tragedy that the show never lived up to the greatness of its title.
I think titles become a badge devoid of their original meaning in the end. Well not devoid as such but a symbol in and of themselves outside of the language. Doctor Who for example. The original implied question is sort of redundant now. I think for this to happen the show has to be really successful. Think of the BEATLES and the awful pun therein. I hate puns and the Beatles were so named as an English take on Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Often as not a sitcom title is a says what it does on the tin. Friends, Only Fools, The Good Life, Dad's Army, The Thin Blue Line, The Odd COuple, Prime Ministers Question Time. So Flat Mates is only a naff title until it isn't. If Lee Mack had used it for Not Going Out - it would have worked in a bold ironic kinda way and I would still have voted for it's return.
I think that's an interesting point, Marc. And I for one have assumed the four Flat Mates scripts were about a generic flat share situation. They might be, but still be bloody hilarious, like Men Behaving Badly was ( the post Harry Enfield, BBC version, obviously). Or it might be they are about something entirely different. Only Declan and Simon know, I guess!
And the writers 
Whom I hope haven't been reading this thread lol.
Quote: Marc P @ March 12 2011, 8:15 AM GMTDoctor Who for example. The original implied question is sort of redundant now.
Really? You know who he is? Actually?
Quote: Tim Azure @ March 12 2011, 8:29 AM GMTReally? You know who he is? Actually?
Yes he's The Doctor. As he is now known.
Quote: Griff @ March 12 2011, 12:08 AM GMTActually I like Psychoville as a title, although I can see it is a bit on-the-nose.
It was a foreign title for The League of Gentlemen originally, wasn't it? Can't remember which country.
I'd be equally wary of the 'dull title = dull sitcom' thing. I don't want people wasting time coming up with a dazzlingly original title instead of writing better jokes.
(And yes, some rubbish titles get accepted with time... I always found it odd that Star Wars fans reacted so badly to the titles of the prequel trilogy... yes, The Phantom Menace is a bit of an odd title, and Attack of the Clones couldn't be more generic... but 'Star Wars' is dull, and 'The Empire Strikes Back' is just rubbish... you simply forget they are because they've become part of the lexicon).
I just went with the surnames of my two lead characthers
What title did you go for Griff?
Quote: Griff @ March 12 2011, 10:31 AM GMTMy sitcoms have been called Headhunters, Art For Art's Sake, Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown and Shelf Life, none of which are particularly good (except in that two are memorable phrases pinched from other people's song lyrics) and only one of which (Shelf Life) has any kind of cleverness (i.e. it relates to the sitcom in more than one way).
Was Shelf Life about two figurines who come to life after the humans have gone to bed, a bit like the Gnomes of Dulwich, the only problem is that the Man of the house is under constant pressure to redecorate the lounge from the wife, so the clock is ticking in more ways than one on that shelf?
I made the mistake of having my main character's name as part of the title, but other episodes have more focus on other characters. Oops.
But it was the best I could actually come up with (other titles made it sound like a crap RomCom), plus it's a play on words of a film title. Which in itself is probably a sitcom sin.